Identification of rainfall and atmospheric patterns associated with Quitandinha River flooding events in Petropolis, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

Fabricio Polifke Silva (), Otto Corrêa Rotunno Filho (), Maria Gertrudes Alvarez Justi da Silva (), Rafael João Sampaio (), Gisele Dornelles Pires () and Afonso Augusto Magalhães Araújo ()
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Fabricio Polifke Silva: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
Otto Corrêa Rotunno Filho: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
Maria Gertrudes Alvarez Justi da Silva: Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro - UENF
Rafael João Sampaio: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
Gisele Dornelles Pires: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ
Afonso Augusto Magalhães Araújo: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2020, vol. 103, issue 3, No 50, 3745-3764

Abstract: Abstract Heavy rainfall events can result in natural disasters and cause innumerous impacts on society. These consequences can be mitigated by preventive measures applications which are interdisciplinary and integrated areas of study. From the meteorological point of view, preventive measures can be aided by better knowledge of extreme phenomena, the atmospheric patterns related and their monitoring by operational forecasters. The Petropolis city, located in a mountainous region Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, is prone to heavy rainfall events, leading to the River flooding, and in the extreme events the simultaneously landslides occurrence and loss of life. In that context, this study endeavored to characterize the rainfall and atmospheric parameters which triggered heavy rainfall records and the corresponding Quitandinha River flooding episodes. More specifically, we analyzed events from the time period between January 2013 and December 2014 using observational, reanalysis and radar data. We hope that the overall obtained results could provide quantitative and qualitative aid to the operational forecasters and also the decision makers. We noticed that categorized flooding events mostly related to the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) configurations and frontal systems (FS) passage, with a smaller percentage related to local convective storms (CS). The clustering analyses indicated three groups of homogenous precipitation, with higher values over the downstream region progressively decreasing in the upstream direction. The atmospheric parameters showed a pattern of wind change direction in the lower atmospheric levels, a vertical dynamic coupling and moisture availability to support the heavy rainfall development.

Keywords: Rainfall; Flooding; Clustering analysis; Quitandinha River (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-020-04153-y

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